Poster details
Exploring the mass assembly of the Fornax galaxy cluster
Abstract
The Fornax galaxy cluster provides an unparalleled opportunity of investigating galaxy formation and evolution in a dense environment in great detail. Although the Fornax cluster seems relaxed, various studies have shown that the Fornax cluster still is accreting multiple sub-groups. Previous photometric studies of the central massive galaxy NGC1399 revealed an excess of globular clusters (GCs), suggesting accretion of GCs from nearby, interacting major galaxies like NGC 1404. Moreover, recent deep imaging surveys like the Fornax Deep Survey (FDS) with the VLT survey telescope have detected intra-cluster light, connecting several central cluster galaxies.
With the goal to kinematically characterize the Fornax cluster's intra-cluster stellar population and to understand the mass-assembly of the Fornax cluster, we have analyzed the VLT/VIMOS spectroscopic survey of the Fornax cluster covering half of the cluster virial radius (~300 kpc). Combined with previous spectroscopic measurements, this leads to the most extensive catalog of radial velocity measurements with a total of 2341 confirmed GCs in Fornax.
Our first analysis of this unprecedented dataset provides the kinematical characterization of the Fornax cluster's intra-cluster component. With the final goal to explore the dynamical modeling of the Fornax cluster and its member galaxies, in this poster, I will present the kinematics of GCs in the core of the cluster, discussing possible kinematical interaction signatures between NGC1399 and the major galaxies of the Fornax cluster.
With the goal to kinematically characterize the Fornax cluster's intra-cluster stellar population and to understand the mass-assembly of the Fornax cluster, we have analyzed the VLT/VIMOS spectroscopic survey of the Fornax cluster covering half of the cluster virial radius (~300 kpc). Combined with previous spectroscopic measurements, this leads to the most extensive catalog of radial velocity measurements with a total of 2341 confirmed GCs in Fornax.
Our first analysis of this unprecedented dataset provides the kinematical characterization of the Fornax cluster's intra-cluster component. With the final goal to explore the dynamical modeling of the Fornax cluster and its member galaxies, in this poster, I will present the kinematics of GCs in the core of the cluster, discussing possible kinematical interaction signatures between NGC1399 and the major galaxies of the Fornax cluster.